I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Headmaster’s

News

1

Mission 2

Year 8 News 2

Teaching and

Learning

3

Sports News 4

Other News 4

St Gregory’s College

Campbelltown 7 A P R I L 2 0 1 7 V O L U M E 4 9 , I S S U E 5 U P C O M I N G

E V E N T S

24 April

Term 2 commences

25 April

ANZAC Day public holiday

28 April

ANZAC Day

Assembly

5 May

Year 8 Boys to Men

6 May

Maroon and Blue

Parents Dinner Dance

8 May

Years 8-9 Parent

Forums 9.00am and

7.30pm

9-10 May

Years 7 and 9

NAPLAN testing

12 May

Mums and Sons

Breakfast and Liturgy

Headmaster’s News Dear Members of the St Gregory’s Family,

As you may have read in previous newsletters, 2017 marks the 200th celebration of the forming of the Marist Brothers in La Valla, France. The theme for Marists all over the world this year is Awaken. In this the Easter season, this theme is ideal. The boys were challenged at the Easter liturgy yesterday to celebrate Easter by attending one of the local ceremonies in their local parish. To use this theme to awaken those who have lost their way and no longer attend parish liturgies to encourage family to go to an Easter service together. Many thanks to Mrs Clarke and her team for the Liturgy. Pope Francis tweeted last week that ‘Prayer is powerful. Prayer conquers evil. Prayer brings peace.’ These are messages at the core of Jesus’ message on earth and timely as we enter the Easter period. I would encourage you to have the conversation with your sons, and importantly allow them to have these with you and share this wonderful and most significant time in the Church calendar with like-minded people at one of the many Easter services in your local parish. Let the message of Easter awaken the prayer within you. Outgoing Trips Best wishes to three student groups who will be travelling representing us all in different places through the holidays. To Mr O’Brien and Mr McGinnity and the students who will be on Immersion to the Solomon Islands, to Mrs Giles and Ms Bevington and the First V Basketball Team to Brisbane for the Marist Carnival and finally to Mrs Murdoch and Mr Nelson accompanying boys to Vietnam. Our thoughts and prayers go to these groups for a productive and safe time. Primary School It is exciting news that the College has been granted permission to expand to K-6 from 2018. Many thanks to Mr Weekes and Mrs Stott for all their work to date on enrolments. The College is confident of a vibrant and exciting learning environment in this thrilling new chapter in the College’s history. Anzac Day The College will be marching at the Campbelltown March on Tuesday 25 April. All available students are warmly invited to attend. Students will need to meet at the theatre end of Queen St at 8am in full winter uniform. The march and ceremony will conclude by 10am. Recent weather It has been well documented that we have just gone through the wettest March since records were kept. As you are aware, this has resulted in the cancellation of sport and afterschool training. Despite these setbacks, I would like to compliment the young men of St Gregory’s who have conducted themselves with aplomb over the last few weeks. I particularly note a young man who emailed me seeking clarification as to why sport was cancelled. The boys’ general demeanor and behaviour has been first class. Finally, I would like to wish you all a happy, Holy and safe Easter. I encourage you all to find reasons to spend time with family and friends and make it a priority to do so. I trust your son(s) will have a happy and restful holiday period and come back refreshed and recharged for Term 2. May St. Marcellin watch over our families at this precious time.

Quae Seminaveris Metes.

Matthew Brennan Acting Headmaster

Mission Yesterday the College community joined in prayer for our Easter liturgy. With another week to go before the official Church season of Easter, we are still committed to our Lenten promises of fasting, almsgiving and prayer. With this year’s theme of Awaken, our Easter liturgy explored the Creation story and the Tree of knowledge of right and wrong. There is an understanding that we, the people of God, are sometimes stubborn of heart with our God, challenging him and defying him. Amidst all this, God continues to call out to us, and this was most evident in the birth of Christ when God became man, and more significantly perhaps when he was crucified on our account. Our liturgy concluded with the stories of the disciples who were brave enough to declare that they were followers of Christ. They really had nothing to gain by doing so, and in a time of persecutions, a lot more to lose. Yet they did come out and tell their secret. We too can be Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, followers of Christ, publicly declared.

The members of the St Gregory’s community pray well in liturgy when they sing. We sang together our new hymn, Awake My Soul, which highlights the theme Awaken. It’s the kind of song that stays in your head long after you sing it, and the words are well worth pondering as we approach the season of Easter:

“I come alive, I'm alive when You

breathe on me

Awake, awake, awake my soul,

God resurrect these bones

From death to life, for You alone

Awake my soul”

If you were unable to attend the liturgy, you might like to look at the St Greg’s channel on You-tube where it is available for viewing. May I wish all our families a blessed Easter and the Good News which comes with our faith in Christ’s resurrection.

Cathie Clarke, Director of Mission/RE Coordinator

Year 8 have had a number of positive experiences in their last few weeks of term. This began with the Year 8 Boys and Blokes at their Best morning where the Year 8 students were joined by important males in their lives and competed in a range of sports and activities. The House teams competed in Dodgeball, Volleyball, Basketball shots, Soccer shootouts, Tug-o-war and Pass the footy, with Molloy as the overall victors. The students and their guests who participated had an extremely enjoyable time and it was great to see everyone spending some quality time together. More recently, Year 8 have participated in a Digital Citizenship lesson during a Pastoral Care period presented by Mr Don Perna. Digital technology and the ways in which people interact online are always changing, as such this is something that is addressed each year with the Year 8 students. This lesson focussed on their

digital footprint, how this information can be used, on-line behaviours and seeking assistance. Mr Perna’s presentation was extremely informative and offered relevant and practical information which assisted the students in understanding their use of digital technology, particularly that of social media. Last week Year 8 also had the opportunity to view a performance by the actors from Zeal Theatre titled ‘Stones’. The story is based on real-life events and follows two teenage boys whose choices result in severe and life changing consequences. This performance links in with our motto for this year ‘Respect, Resilience and the Choices We Make’ as it encourages students to think about the choices they make and the possible consequences.

Loren Keir, Year 8 Coordinator

Year 8 News

Characteristics of Good Learners #3 Good Learners set goals, and identify strategies to achieve them – Part 1: WHY set goals? Sometimes in life things ‘just happen’ to us, and I guess that’s what makes life so interesting. We can’t plan for everything. To paraphrase Scottish writer Robert Burns; “The best laid plans of mice and men can often go awry”. But everyone should have a ‘roadmap’ anyway – there may be many obstacles and diversions along the way, and the destination may change, but a roadmap can at least give us something to aim for. According to Anne Conzemius, goals “give us the power and reason to act in ways that move us to learn, change and grow. When we set our own goals, we are creating a pathway to our preferred future”. As long ago as 1943, Abraham Maslow proposed a model of human needs. He suggested that we all have five basic needs that will allow us to meet our full potential:

Self-actualization refers to our ability to envisage and enact our own future; and with this we come back to the importance of setting goals!

In the next newsletter, I will discuss some goal-setting strategies that students can use to help them reach their potential.

References: Conzemius, A. (2013). The Foundations of Student-Centred, Goal-Directed Learning. Smart Learning Systems, USA. Maslow, A. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50 (4).

Louise Millar, Director of Teaching and Learning

Teaching and Learning

Student Profiles

Congratulations to our Two Swimming Relay teams who won their respective Freestyle and Medley Races at the recent CCC Swimming

Championship:

Junior Team

William Winsor (Year 8)

Domonic Rajacic (Year 8)

Phlynn Grohala (Year 9)

Jet Boland (Year 8)

Senior Team

Joshua Ashkar (Year 12)

Declan Grohala (Year 12)

Liam Novak (Year 12)

Robert Warcaba (Year 12)

Sports

Events

9-14 April

Marist National Basketball Championship, Ashgrove, Qld.

27 April

MCS Football Round 5

MCS RL Round 1 4 May

MCS Football Round 6

MCS RL Round 2 11 May

MCS Football Round 7

MCS RL Round 3 16 May

MCS Cross Country, Penrith

Sports News TERM 1 – WEEK 10

MCS SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIP The College has defended our MCS Swimming Championship at the Homebush Pool. In a great effort the very close wins and losses in the Carnival over the last many years was replaced with a 170 points win to St Gregory’s for the Aggregate Trophy while placing second in the Senior Trophy and first in the Junior Trophy.

The strength of the team was highlighted in the Relay Results (4 x 50m Medley and 4 x 50m Freestyle). From the 14 relays the College won nine, placed 2nd in three and 3rd in two. 15 St Gregory’s students represented MCS at the CCC Carnival.

Congratulations to the team, Coach Mr Dixon and Team Managers / Officials Ms Wray, Ms Keir, Mrs Dash and Mr McGuiggan for their contribution and support to the Swimming Program.

CCC SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIP Fifteen of our College’s successful MCS Champion team participated in the CCC Carnival held at Homebush. Our two Relay Teams (Junior – William Winsor, Jet Boland, Phlynn Grohala, Domonic, Rajacic and Senior – Joshua Ashkar, Declan Grohala, Liam Novak Robert Warcaba) won both their respective Freestyle and Medley Races. The Senior team set new CCC records in both of their races.

MCS SPORTING EVENTS The wet weather has continued for four weeks now cancelling our Thursday Sport Program. The Second, Third and Fourth Rounds of the MCS Football competition were cancelled, the MCS Rugby 7s and the MCS Football and Rugby League Trials were postponed. The MCS Tennis Tournament did begin with the Juniors playing 5 of the 15 Rounds before the rain resumed on Thursday 30 March and continued yesterday.

Joseph Lantz, Sports Coordinator The full Sport report with individual results and representative honours can be found in News.

Literature Circle Excursion To The Film ‘Lion’

Years 9 and 10 Literature Circle recently went to the movies to watch the film ‘Lion’. The film is based on the book, ‘A Long Way Home’ by Saroo Brierley. It tells the story of how Saroo tries to find his way home after being lost as five-year-old in India. It is a very inspiring story and tugs at the strings of every mother’s heart. Saroo was from the small rural Indian town, Ganesh Talai. He was not educated and spoke very little Hindi. His days in India were spent mostly scavenging and begging for food and money. Saroo adored his older brother Guddu. One fateful night he and his brother went to the train station to scavenge for food. Saroo was tired and fell asleep on a bench and his brother went away but promised to be back soon. When he woke up his brother was nowhere to be seen. A train pulled up and he got on to look for Guddu. This train would take him to Calcutta, a bustling city over a thousand kilometres away. ‘Lion’ tells of the struggles and sheer luck Saroo encountered trying to find his way home. It is a fantastic movie and received many award nominations. It is must-see film.

Thank you to Mrs Arentz and Mrs Gardiner for looking after us, and organising the trip.

Sanjiv Weerasingham (Year 9)

Other News